


Terrible, but Beautiful

by sirmioneforever



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: ASoIaF Kink Meme, F/M, R plus L equals J
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 08:25:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7427488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirmioneforever/pseuds/sirmioneforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The truth; how beautiful and terrible it could be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terrible, but Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ASOIAF/GoT fic and I know I've not got everything 100% but I hope to improve with the more stories I write. It was for a prompt in one of the early ASOIAF kink memes, and I'm not sure who prompted it.

Catelyn Stark felt shock give way to anger at what her husband had just informed her.

“Cat,” Ned said anxiously.

“Don’t talk to me right now, Ned. I may say something that I will regret,” she informed him.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

“No, I will go and pray in the Sept,” Catelyn answered curtly.

The Lady of Winterfell could not believe that her lord husband had kept something so important from her for so many years. Ned had told her that it was to protect her and the children, and while Catelyn understood his point, she would not have treated Jon so poorly if he had told her the truth.

The truth; how beautiful and terrible it could be. The truth was that Ned did love another woman more than her, but not someone who he had given his heart to. Whilst it was somewhat a relief to realise that he had never broken his vow to her she was still angry that he had lied.

Jon Snow was her nephew and the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, not his bastard as he had claimed. Catelyn understood Ned’s need to protect his nephew after all the Tully words family, duty, honour had been drilled into her since she was a young girl.

Once reaching the Sept, Catelyn knelt in front of the crone and prayed for guidance. She knew that she would stand by her lord husband despite the fact that she had lost some of her trust in him. She was, however, at a loss on how to proceed with Jon. Catelyn had always been harsh towards the boy and made him feel like an outsider rather than part of the family. It would seem strange if her attitude suddenly changed towards him after all these years.

After leaving the Sept Catelyn made her way back to her lord husbands solar hoping that he was still there. They had much to talk about now that she had calmed down.

She knocked on the door and waited until she was called to enter.

“How are you my lady?” Ned asked sounding anxious again.

“I am still angry and upset with you, my lord. Pray tell me, did you ever consider the hurt you would put me through by bringing him here and raising him with our own children? I have taken my anger out on him because he represented your union with someone else; a woman you would not name. I thought that you loved whoever she was more than I. Now with the truth I understand why you raised him here, but it doesn’t take away the things I have said and done towards him,” Catelyn answered honestly.

“I am sorry, my lady, truly I am. I had no idea that you felt that way. I have never loved another, and never will. Can you forgive me, Cat?”

“The trust I had in you has been broken, but I believe over time we can build it again, and with that trust will come forgiveness.”

“Thank you,” Ned said sounding relieved.

“What do you plan to do with Jon? Will you tell him the truth, or let him carry on believing that he is your son?” Catelyn asked curiously.

Ned was silent for moment before responding to his lady wife’s question, “For the moment I will let him believe that he is my bastard. Although he is quiet, he can still be prone to a temper fit as children are wont to do and I would not risk him telling someone that cannot be trusted. If I think he could handle it once he is a grown man, then I will consider telling him the truth.”

Catelyn nodded.

She thought it was a good idea not to tell him yet, although she was sure that Jon would feel just as betrayed as she did if he ever found out.

“Shall we go to the Great Hall for dinner, my lady?” Ned asked holding out his hand to her.

“Yes, my lord,” Catelyn replied taking his hand.

They walked from his solar to the Great Hall in a comfortable silence and it seemed that things would be alright between them.


End file.
